Bangor - Third graders at Downeast School in Bangor think everyone needs a pair of mittens, especially those serving overseas.

These aren't your typical mittens; they're handmade gifts going to the troops for the holidays.

"I think they'll actually feel very happy to get a Christmas gift during the war," said third grader Noah Varisco.

The kids get to decorate the mittens and write a personal message to the soldiers.

"I was reading some of the sentiments that the kids wrote. Amazing. They're just really heartfelt and very personal and that's what's important."

Letters like these are what Tina Morrill hoped for when she approached the school with the idea.

"I think it's really important for them to understand what's going on around them. I'm hoping that when the troops open the mittens, they're going to know what we are thinking here. They're really important to us, we think of them daily and I know some of these kids, listening to some of them talk today, they have friends, relatives, brothers, sisters, that are serving as well."

Even though these mittens are made of paper, the military members that get them, will surely feel their warmth after reading messages like the one Noah sent:

"Dear U.S. Soldier, I wish you good luck in the war and thank you in the fight for our freedom. I wish you a happy Christmas. Take this as a gift
so you know someone cares."

After all the glitter and glue dries, the mittens will be shipped out from the Air Guard Base.

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